The Fear-Mongering, Ignorant, Racist Right Better Get Ready To Start Squeeling...

... because Barack Obama announced in a recent interview that he's...

A.) going to be sworn in by his whole name, "Barack Hussein Obama", when he's sworn in. I think he's intending it to be a sign that he's not hiding or backing away from his multi-cultural heritage.

and

B.) he's going to make "a major speech in an Islamic capital".

He's looking at all of this as an opportunity to "reboot" American foreign policy and American relations with the Muslim world. You can read the whole article here, in an online article by the recently Chapter 11'd Chicago Tribune. (Good to see them still churning out news, despite massive lay-offs and it's recent death knell. Maybe their in denial. I would be.)

I see what Obama is doing here. He's delivering on the promises of "change" that he promised in his campaign. After all, his predecessor launched a vaguely-defined, international war against... what was the term... "religious extremists" or something like that. (Pot, Kettle, Black.) Obama seems to be taking the exactly oppostite tactic here, reaching out to Islamic world, suggesting that he knows that Christians and Muslims haven't been well-represented by their most vocal representatives, lo these seven years now. And that new opportunity for progress and growth is present for the first time in a long time. That's a message that I think he needs to give. That's what a leader does, leads people to smarter, healthier, more constructive attitudes and practices.

He also says very clearly what his attitudes are in quotes like this...

"The message I want to send is that we will be unyielding in stamping out the terrorist extremism we saw in Mumbai," Obama said, adding that he plans to give a major address in an Islamic capital as part of his global outreach.

So, he's unwilling to accept terrorism as a manipulation technique by the fanatics of the world. But he's open to working with the 95% of peaceful muslims in the rest of the world. A win/ win tactic - tough on terrorism/ welcoming to peace.

And yet...

I see headlines like
"Barack Obama plans to reach out to Muslim world"
and
I read that he's going to make a major speech in an islamic capital
and
read about his intention of recognizing his "Hussein"-ness
and
I think about this...



and I remember this...



and this...



and I think to myself, "there are large patches of this country which aren't going to understand what he's trying to do here. This is not going to happen easily for him or for this country." If you were one of the people who, during the longest campaign in American History, were afraid that Obama was going to "turn the country all muslim" or "outlaw the bible" or "let the muslims in to the white house", then this announcement from him will unintentionally play right into your worst fears.

So, how do you balance a good and presidentially appropriate action against the unapologetic, only slightly supressed racism and ignorance of your most fearful citizens?

I would suggest a single tactic.

"Control the language of your actions"

This comes staight out of George Lakoff's "Don't think of an elephant". And it's the tactic that the right has used successfully to spin liberals into a twist and get a C+ alcoholic male cheerleader and failed businessman into the presidential office for eight years. It's a tactic that the left can employ to big success.

Right now, "islam" and "muslim" are negative buzzwords. Right or wrong, that's just the way that it is. My advice to Obama would be to continue with his plans, don't change a thing about his intentions, but focus less on the "muslim-targeted" language of his plans and make them more universal. Speak in the inclusive double-talk of the modern media.

Instead of "giving a major speech in an islamic capital", try "speaking for unity in one of the largest, most deeply spiritual cities of the world". Same message, negative buzzword avoided. The muslims in this town know what he's talking about, the rest of the world thinks he means Jerusalem and the right has nothing to bite onto, when they attack him for this.

Instead of "reaching out to muslims", try "embracing all peoples of faith and ending hateful stereotypes of recent years". Again, the muslims know exactly who you're talking about, without naming them. Everyone else thinks you mean whatever group they personally see as the oppressed.

I think the president-elect absolutely SHOULD be sworn in with his full name. Every president before him has done the same thing. And if it sends a message, then that message is "my heritage is nothing to be ashamed of and by suggesting otherwise, you reveal your own predjudices". And that's message enough.

Let's hope that the right-wing media misses this. Let's hope that they're focused on Blago and his problems and misses this completely. The last thing I want to see are the dying elephants of the right-wing hate-media, whipping the ignorant up into a dangerous, fearful fury. That's about as counter-productive an action as I can imagine, right now.

Cheers all,
Mr.B

News Flash: Christians Ruin Elementary School Fun...Again.

Saw this news post on AOL News. My thoughts follow the article...

School Cross-Dressing Event Draws Ire
Posted: 2008-04-07 11:30:49

REEDSBURG, Wis. (April 6) - An elementary-school event in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office.

Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week. On Friday, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex.

A local resident informed the Voice of Christian Youth America on Friday. The Milwaukee-based radio network responded by interrupting its morning programming for a special broadcast that aired on nine radio stations throughout Wisconsin. The broadcast criticized the dress-up day and accused the district of promoting alternative lifestyles.

"We believe it's the wrong message to send to elementary students," said Jim Schneider, the network's program director. "Our station is one that promotes traditional family values. It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error."

Schneider co-hosts "Crosstalk," a nationally syndicated call-in Christian radio show.

After the program aired, both the school and Reedsburg School District office were flooded with calls complaining about the event.

The response surprised Principal Tammy Hayes, who said no one had raised any objections beforehand. She said a flier detailing Wacky Week had been sent home with children the prior week, and an announcement was also included in teacher newsletters.

The dress-up day was not an attempt to promote cross-dressing, homosexuality or alternative gender roles, district administrator Tom Benson said.

"The promotion of transgenderism - that was not our purpose," Benson told the Baraboo News Republic. "Our purpose was to have a Wacky Week, mixing in a bit of silliness with our reading, writing and arithmetic."

The theme for Friday's dress-up day came from students, Hayes said.

"It's different every year. They basically present the ideas, and they vote on what they would like from Monday through Friday," Hayes said. "... They did not mean anything by this day. They were trying to have fun and come up with a fun dress-up day."

About 40 percent of the student body dressed up Friday, Hayes estimated, with half portraying senior citizens and half dressing as the opposite sex.

"I can assure you we will not be having this day (again)," Hayes said.

Reedsburg is in southern Wisconsin, about 60 miles northwest of Madison.

So, here's the Cliff Notes version. A bunch of elementary school kids voted to have a wacky "dress up like an old person or the opposite sex" day a group of religious fanatics got wind of it and shit all over it.

I should clarify here, before I get rolling, that I'm not anti-religion.

I am anti-intolerance.

If you're someone who practices tolerance, patience, love and personal faith, then I am not talking about you.

If you're one of the intolerant fucks that sees something wrong with a bunch of elementary kids dressing up in funny costumes that MAKE YOU uncomfortable because of the fucked-up sexual connotations that YOU are putting on them, then yes, I am talking about you.

Context, kids. It's all about context.

There's nothing wrong with kids playing dress up.
It's not the "Gay Pride Parade" marching through the halls of the school. It's kids dressing up as "old people" and "the opposite sex". Note how the two costumes were lumped together on a single day. Because it's not a day for issues or sexuality for these kids. It's about dressing up like someone other than who you are. It might as well have been, dress up like a cowboy or superhero or Hannah Montana or whatever.

I sincerely doubt that ANY child who suggested or voted for this, did so as a pro-transgender activity day for these kids.

How can you even make that argument?

But the American Taliban aren't interested in context or the subtleties of individual circumstances. They're intolerant. They have their own agenda to force on these kids.

The problem isn't religion. The problem is intolerance and hatred for anything that's different or that doesn't fit in their narrow view of the world, as written in their singular source of information, The Bible.

These nutjobs want to control what media you take in (good luck on that, guys. Information is faster and cheaper today than it ever has been. Ask the Chinese Government how easily they can control internet access in China. Um, not at all.)

They want to control how you dress.
Who you worship and how.
What you say.
Who you sleep with.

And ultimately how this country governs itself. Which has serious ramifications on how we affect the rest of the world. Is there anything less terrifying than a nuclear-armed superpower, commanded by an intolerante religious fanatic that thinks that he's got God on his side anyways, so why not raze the rest of the world in nuclear devastation?

Isn't it tragic to think that a country that was founded on "Freedom from Religious Intolerance" (among other issues) has been so thoroughly hi-jacked by the American Taliban? How far have we fallen away from our Founding Principles?

That tells me that we've lost our way. And that the unshakable faith of the American Taliban has sublimated the will of the rest of the country and we've completely forgotten who we are and what we stand for. Our own lackadasical, un-motivated belief in self and "Separation of Church & State" are all considerably less exciting then when someone feels that they are "donning God's Armor to Do Battle Against Forces That Would Seek To Censor and Control God's Plan For Us All".

We're losing a war that we're not even fighting against people who don't realize that no one is actually fighting them.

They're so bereft of actual targets that they are forced to turn their attention on ever-increasingly obscure offenses. Like kids. Dressing up like old people and opposite gender.

Because it doesn't fit their very narrow view of "traditional family views".

I don't see any difference between the American Taliban and the Taliban of the Middle East. They both use fear and intimidation to further their own, overwhelming urges to control their cultures from within. God's will supplants the will of the people. Everyone is their enemy and everything is a potential attack, so everything has to be censored and controlled.

Someone is definitely in error here but I don't think it's the kids or staff of Pineview Elementary.

Angrily,
Mr.B